Visa Requirements

Visa is required only for non EU Students

If you come from an EU country you don’t need VISA to study at Marbella Design Academy.

VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR NON-EUROPEAN STUDENTS

If you come from an EU country you don’t need VISA to study at Marbella Design Academy.

To enter Spain as an international student at Marbella Design Academy on the 3 year Validated Programmes, you need a Student Visa from the Spanish Embassy/Consulate. (Students on Summer Courses and on the Foundation Course can enter Spain on a Tourist Visa, which is valid for 3 months. You will have to show a return ticket).

Via Google you can find the Embassy/Consulate nearest to you in your home country. As soon as you have been accepted to our Academy we recommend that you make enquiries at the Spanish Embassy/Consulate for you to find out the exact requirements for your country.

To make the process as easy as possible we have prepared a guide for you to follow.

You must first have been accepted as a student at Marbella Design Academy on one of our Bachelor of Arts Validated Programmes.

You must have become a fully registered student by paying your tuition fee for your first academic year. (Students on payment plans have to have paid the 1st instalment as agreed with our Finance Department).

The Academy will issue, and mail to you by courier mail to the address written in your Application, a document confirming your payment and that you are a registered student at Marbella Design Academy. This original document you will have to give to the Spanish Embassy or Consulate together with the other requirements as listed below.

When you have become a fully registered student you will have to contact your nearest Spanish Embassy or Consulate and schedule a meeting with them. It is best if you go there in person.

When you attend the scheduled meeting on the date and at the time appointed to you, you must remember to bring all of the following documents (3 copies of each). If you do not bring all the required documents you will be asked to come another day. So bring them all at your first visit, please!

4A. The document, in Spanish, from the Academy proving you are a registered student of Marbella Design Academy and that you have paid the tuition fee as required or as arranged with the Finance Department.

4B. The completed application form for Schengen Visa, which we have emailed to you as an attached file.

4C. Your Passport, original and copies. The passport must be valid for the intended period of your stay in Spain (meaning, it must not expire while you are here) and must have a blank page to affix the visa.

4D. 4 x recent standard passport size photos.

4E. A Spanish bank account. The Academy recommends UNICAJA Bank which is situated both in Marbella and in Monda:

The name of the bank and the account number from where you will have funds. transferred to your new Unicaja account.

When Bank Unicaja has received this information, they can open your bank account within a few days.

When you have been issued your new bank account you will have to transfer a certain amount of money to the account. Please ask the Embassy or Consulate how much they require. You will have to show the Embassy or Consulate a copy of your bank statement. This is sufficient proof of the amount you have in your new account.

When you have a Spanish bank account with Bank Unicaja you can then proceed to make a health insurance contract with Adeslas (the company the Academy recommends) as detailed in point 4F.

4F. Health Insurance (original form): You will need an international insurance coverage for health and accident for the intended period of your stay in Spain. We recommend Adeslas. Adeslas is one of the biggest and best health insurance companies in Spain. The monthly cost of a COMPLETE PLAN for students, including dental insurance: Above 16 years old = 40,42 Euros per month. Above 45 years old = 47,30 Euros per month.

You will be emailed the insurance policy paperwork, written in English. Phone: +34 952 45 70 78

You can open your Spanish bank account and obtain your health insurance through the same contact, Carlos Escobar.

May you not be able to contact Carlos Escobar on what regards the health insurance, please email Yolanda López Martínez at lopezmy@agente.segurcaixaadeslas.es

Adeslas must receive your application for health insurance before the 15th of the month for you to be fully covered from the 1st of the following month. Please bring a copy of your new health insurance contract with you to the Spanish Embassy/Consulate together with the other requirements. As all international students need to have a valid health insurance when they apply for their student visa, the Academy recommends you to do the following before applying for your student visa and within 3 to 4 months before arrival to Spain.

* First you need to have your Spanish Bank account and then you urgently need to apply for your Health Insurance.

Please contact the Spanish Embassy/Consulate as soon as you have been accepted at the Marbella Design Academy. Ask for information about how long time it takes to obtain a student Visa from this specific Embassy/Consulate. The visa process varies from a few weeks to a few months depending on the country from where the student applies.

4G. If you are having funds transferred on a monthly basis from your parents or other legal guardians, you will need a notarised letter from them assuming full financial responsibility. Suggested wording for the notarised letter: “I hereby certify that I am the (father/mother/other) of (………), and that I will support him/her with a monthly allowance of at least xxx Euros while he/she is in Spain and that I am financially responsible for any emergency that may arise”.

4H. A clean police record.

4I. A medical certificate proving that you are in good health.

4J. Some Spanish Embassies/Consulates will demand that you show a signed rental contract for a furnished apartment/house or a room in Spain. You will usually have to pay for the first month, plus another month deposit. (If you on arrival do not like the apartment then you only need to pay one month’s rent from when you have cancelled the contract and you can stay during this month). It is best to contact the Embassy/Consulate nearest you to ask them directly. Ask them what their demands are regarding accommodation in order for you to obtain your student visa. Some Embassies and Consulates accept a receipt for a room in a hostel for one to two weeks.

We help our applicant students find accommodation. The Academy recommends all students to live in Monda near the Academy. There are plenty of apartments available in Monda, they are all furnished and they can be rented for a monthly rental of around 250 Euros for a room and 400 Euros to 600 Euros for a 2 to 3 – bedroom apartment. On average our students pay around 250 Euros per month each for rent, including water and electricity, when they share a fully furnished (2 bedroom and 2 bathrooms) apartment with another student.

For finding accommodation in Monda, please see the ACCOMMODATION file sent to you by email from our Info and Enrolment Department or from

Housing-students@marbella-design-academy.com , together with your letter of acceptance as an accepted student at Marbella Design Academy. Please note that the Academy does not charge any form of commission to help our students find accommodation. Help finding accommodation is a free service given by the Academy to all students accepted at one of our programmes.

4K. To be able to obtain your Student Visa (1 academic year for yearly renewal – Non European students on the 3 year validated programmes) or ( Tourist visa, a stay for no longer than 3 months – Foundation Course students and Summer Course students), you must have a copy of the reservation of the return ticket for the date and time you intend to return to your home country. If you are not able to facilitate the Spanish Embassy-Consulate with this document your application for a student visa or tourist visa will be denied.

Should your application for a student visa be rejected, Marbella Design Academy will make a refund of 75% of the yearly Marbella Design Academy tuition fee. If the reason for refusal is because the student visa applicant has not handed in the required documentation to the Spanish Embassy Consulate, then the Academy cannot be held responsible, and no refund will be issued.

Once you have fulfilled all the requirements for your Student Visa the Embassy or Consulate will give you a 3 months Visa.Important: make sure a ’D’ is written on it, as this stands for ‘student’. With this Student Visa you will be able to enter Spain.

The Student Visa to be extended at the police station in Marbella within the first month of your stay in Spain as a full academic year student. During your first month at the Academy, all non European International Student Visa students at the Academy will go together with a staff member of the Academy to the local police station in Marbella to finalise your paperwork for your Student Visa valid for the entire academic year. (To be easy renewed for your 2nd and 3rd year of study)

Rachel Parker, our Student Support will assist you with this upon arrival. Application for your visa is not really as complicated as it sounds!